Features
May 2014 Issue

People who have adopted a senior dog usually say it’s one of the most rewarding things they have ever done.

Tips to Adopting a Senior Dog

Thinking about adopting a senior dog? GREAT! Here are some tips to smooth his homecoming.

By Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA

When my husband asked me to come to the shelter where he worked to meet the 8-year-old Australian Shepherd he had fallen in love with and wanted to adopt, of course I said yes. When Paul first met Missy, she threw herself on her back at his feet, and he was hooked. When I saw her striking red merle coat, her stunning “odd eyes” (one brown, one blue) and her delightful personality, I was smitten, too, and didn’t need any arm-twisting from my husband to agree to add this beautiful girl to our family. She slipped into her place in our home with barely a ripple, just as did Mandy, an 8-year-old tri-color Rough Collie and my first senior adoption, some 30 years prior.